Help ID this unknown? (LPS?) from Tampabay Saltwater Liverock

[Giraffe0621]

Can anyone tell me what this guy is? It arrived on my TBS liverock & is a beautiful pinkish/orange with orange polyps(?) fringe with green tips when the water gets stirred up. I might be completely wrong that it's LPS, so if it is, can someone point me in the right direction?

There's tons of sponges on the rocks that I know I won't probably ever identify, but somehow if this guy is coral, I want to know what it is Here it is -- open & closed.

 

[KJ]

Galaxea sp.

 

[Giraffe0621]

So now that I know what it is & can read a little about it... are all Galexea species aggressive? There's no other corals in the tank at this point (at least that I've found so far), so should I wait to actually see it put out long sweepers before deciding to keep it or not? There's a ton of sponges, feather dusters, snails, etc. in there, but no other coral. Or is this something people get rid of, no matter what?

 

[reef lover]

Galexea is a beautiful specimen just give it ample space. And for what's its worth most corals have a defense mechanism of some sort sweeper tentacles, messentrial filaments or excreting toxins.

 

[scchase]

100% not Galaxea, the genus doesn't occur in the Atlantic, plus the skeleton isn't right, based on what I can see it's either Siderastrea or Oculina

 

[kashman100]

Cup coral. Go to tampa bay saltwater site and look at catalog of organisms. They have a lot of the stuff that is on there rock with pictures and description. Great live rock! I got mine from there

 

[Giraffe0621]

100% not Galaxea, the genus doesn't occur in the Atlantic, plus the skeleton isn't right, based on what I can see it's either Siderastrea or Oculina

Eek, completely forgot to consider geography! Will look into those guys as well. Thanks for the help!

I've been looking through TBS's photos but haven't quite found anything that seems to match perfectly. Will keep looking, thanks

 

[lauderdalestunner]

So is it legal? Atlantic stony corals are supposedly off limits. Wish I could put together an entirely self collected tank here in South Florida. Could you grow out and frag what you have growing??? Is my question... Something for the FWC to figure out I guess. Awesome hitchhiker anyway!

 

[Giraffe0621]

So is it legal? Atlantic stony corals are supposedly off limits. Wish I could put together an entirely self collected tank here in South Florida. Could you grow out and frag what you have growing??? Is my question... Something for the FWC to figure out I guess. Awesome hitchhiker anyway!

I'll be ecstatic if I can keep this (and everything else) alive for the next month -- this is a brand new tank & this came in on Part 1 of "The Package" from TBS, so my tank is still mid-cycle. Never even considered whether it was legal or not What's the FWC?

 

[scchase]

As far as I know the corals that grow on the farmed live rock are legal as long as they are not specifically sold as coral ie can be sold as rock but not coral. I have not ever looked very far into this however and anything less would put the live rock farms out of business since the vast majority of it grows some stony coral on it. Most of it isn't all that pretty though I have seen some nice Manicina areolata come in on the rock from time to time. Manicina areolata is similar to the Pacific open brains though not as brightly colored. Manicina areolata used to be so common it was collected and used as fish food for picky reef fish. They do come in reds and greens.

 

[lauderdalestunner]

Always wondered if you had piece of substrate and allowed natural settlement by a coral polyp of some type, could you then grow out in captivity. (Atlantic)
FWC Florida fish and wildlife conservation